How did China's writing come from?

This is an old saying.

According to legend, Cang Xie was an official under the Yellow Emperor. Officials at that time were not imposing, just like ordinary people, but with different division of labor. The Yellow Emperor assigned him to be in charge of the number of livestock in the fence and the number of food on the chariot. Cang Xie is a smart man. He does everything with all his heart. He soon becomes familiar with the animals and food he is in charge of, and has a good mind, so he seldom makes mistakes. But slowly, the storage of livestock and food is also gradually increasing and changing, and my head alone can't remember it. At that time, there were no words, let alone paper and pens. What shall we do? Cang Xie was puzzled.

Cang Xie tried to tie a knot on the rope all day and all night. He used ropes of different colors to represent different animals and foods, and knots tied with ropes represented each number. But over time, it won't work. It is easy to tie a knot on the rope for this increased number, but it is troublesome to untie a knot on the rope when reducing the number. Cang Xie thought of winding the rope and hanging all kinds of shells in the circle, instead of what he was in charge of. If it increases, a shell is added; if it decreases, a shell is removed. This method works best and has been used continuously for several years.

Seeing that Cang Xie was so capable, the Yellow Emperor put him in charge of more and more things, such as the number of sacrifices each year, the distribution of hunting and the increase or decrease of tribal population, all of which were called Cang Xie. Cang Xie has made another mistake, which is no longer a matter of hanging a shell with a rope. How can I not make mistakes?

On this day, he took part in collective hunting and came to a fork in the road. Several old people were arguing about which way to take. An old man insisted on going east, saying there were antelopes; An old man wants to go north, saying that he can catch up with the deer not far ahead; An old man insisted on going west, saying that there were two tigers, and if they were not killed in time, they would miss the opportunity. Cang Xie, it turns out that they are all looking at the footprints of underground beasts. Cang Xie suddenly felt happy: Since a footprint represents a wild animal, why can't I use a symbol to represent what I am responsible for? He ran home happily and began to create various symbols to represent things. Sure enough, manage things well.

When the Yellow Emperor knew it, he praised it and ordered Cang Xie to teach this method to all tribes. Gradually, the usage of these symbols has been popularized. In this way, the text is formed.

Cang Xie made a word, and the Yellow Emperor attached great importance to him. Everyone praised him, and his reputation is growing. Cang Xie's mind was a little hot, and his eyes slowly moved to the top of his head. No one looks down on him, his handwriting is very scrawled.

This word reached the ears of the Yellow Emperor, who was very angry. Courtiers have no room for deterioration in his eyes. How did Cang Xie realize his mistake? The Yellow Emperor called the oldest old man around him to discuss. The old man has tied more than 120 knots on his long beard, which shows that he is over 120 years old. The old man hesitated and went to Cang Xie alone.

Cang Xie is teaching people from all tribes to read. The old man sits quietly at the end and listens as carefully as everyone else. After Cang Xie finished speaking, everyone else dispersed, and only the old man was still sitting in his old place. Cang Xie was a little curious and asked him why he didn't go.

The old man said, "Cang Xie, your words have become a household name, but I am old and dizzy, and a few words are still unclear. Will you teach me again? "

Cang Xie looked at such a tall old man and respected him very much. He is very happy, urge him to speak quickly.

The old man said, "Are there four legs in the words horse, donkey and mule?" ? Cows also have four legs. Why didn't you invent the word' cow' with four legs and only one tail? "

Cang Xie was a little flustered when he heard this: when he first coined the word "fish", it was written like a cow, and when he coined the word "cow", it was written as a fish. It's all my own carelessness, and I actually taught it backwards.

The old man went on to say, "The word' heavy' you made means that you have to pronounce the word' out' from a long distance away, but you taught people to pronounce the word' heavy' as weight. On the other hand, the word "out" when two mountains are combined should be the word "heavy" for weight, but you have taught it to be the word "out" when going out. These words really puzzle me, so I have to ask you. "

At this time, Cang Xie was ashamed and knew that he had made a big mistake because of his pride. These words have been taught by all tribes and spread all over the world and cannot be changed. He quickly knelt down and expressed his regret with tears.

The old man took Cang Xie's hand and said sincerely, "Cang Xie, you have created words, so that the experience of our older generation can be recorded and passed on. You have done a great thing, and people will remember you from generation to generation. You can't be arrogant! "

From then on, every time Cang Xie made a word, he always scrutinized the meaning of the word, but he could ask people's opinions, and he was not careless. Everyone agreed, then decided, and then gradually spread to every tribe.

According to the pre-Qin legend, Cang Xie was the lyricist, and Xunzi Jiemu recorded: "Although there are many good books, Cang Xie is the only one handed down from generation to generation." "Lu's Spring and Autumn Annals" records: "Xi Zhong made cars and books". According to legend, Cang Xie is a historian of the Yellow Emperor and a representative of ancient Chinese characters in China. According to Shuo Wen Jie Zi, Cang Xie was a historian of word-making in the period of the Yellow Emperor, and was known as the "sage of word-making". Historian Xu Xu believes that the appearance of writing should be related to Cang Xie. At that time, writing was needed to make calendars, and writing was also needed to make Oracle Bone Inscriptions. Therefore, Cang Xie should come from Zhuan Xu tribe. He was "born in Sri Lanka and buried in Sri Lanka", so there is Cangjieling in Taipei. He lived in the 26th century BC. Based on this, it is speculated that Chinese characters were relatively mature four or five thousand years ago.

Cang Xie, surnamed Hou, the historian of the Yellow Emperor and the founder of Chinese characters, is known as the "sage of word-making". Today, in wucun, 35 miles northwest of Nanle County, there are Cang Xie Ridge, Cangjie Temple and Bookstores. Historians believe that Cang Xie was born in Sri Lanka and was buried there.

It is said that Cang Xie "began to change the book contract into a rope". Before that, people tied knots and kept records, that is, big knots were tied for big events, small ones were summarized, and connected things were linked. Later, it was developed to carve symbols on wood and bamboo with a knife as notes. With the development of history, civilization is gradual, things are complicated and there are many famous things. The knotting and carving methods of wood are far from meeting the needs. There is an urgent need to create words. The Yellow Emperor was a period of numerous inventions in ancient times. At that time, not only sericulture was invented, but also boats, carts, bows, mirrors, cooking pots and retort were invented. Under the influence of these inventions, Cang Xie was determined to create a kind of writing.

Legend of Cang Xie; Four eyes and heavy pupils, very clever. One year, Cang Xie made a southern tour, climbed a mountain with Yang Que (now Luonan County, Shaanxi Province) and confronted Xuan Huluo? In the water, I suddenly saw a chinemys reevesii with many blue patterns on his back. Cang Xie looked surprised, so he picked it up and studied it carefully. He looked around and found that the pattern on the turtle's back was meaningful. He believes that patterns can not only express meaning, but if a rule is made, isn't it used by everyone to convey their feelings and record things?

Cang Xie thought about it day and night, observed everywhere, and saw the distribution of stars in the sky, the appearance of mountains and rivers on the ground, the traces of birds, animals, insects and fish, the shapes of plants and tools, described and painted, created various symbols, and set the meaning represented by each symbol. According to his own mind, he pieced together several paragraphs with symbols and showed them to people. After his explanation, he also understood. Cang Xie called this symbol "Zi".

Cang Xie succeeded in coining words, and strange things happened. On that day, it rained like millet during the day, and I heard ghosts crying and wolves howling at night. Why does it rain like rain? Because Cang Xie created words, words can be used to convey ideas and record things, which is naturally worth celebrating. But why do ghosts cry? Some people say that because of writing, people's wisdom is growing, people's morality is dividing, and deception and cunning are born. The world will never be peaceful, and even ghosts will not be at peace, so ghosts will cry.

There is another saying:

On one occasion, Cang Xie made a mistake in providing the historical records recorded in these knots to the Yellow Emperor, which led to the defeat of the Yellow Emperor in the border negotiations with Yan Di. Later, it was a good way for Cang Xie to resign, travel around the world, visit and record historical events. Three years later, he returned to his hometown, Baishui Wu Yang Village, and lived alone in a deep ditch, "watching the joy of Kuixing and the traces of birds and animals' hooves", sorting out all kinds of materials and creating all kinds of symbols representing everything in the world. He gave these symbols a name, called Zi.

Cang Xie's words are made according to the shape of everything. For example, Japanese characters are marked according to the red circle of the sun; The word "moon" is painted in imitation of the shape of the new moon. The herringbone is looking at the silhouette painting of people ... The first article that the Yellow Emperor learned was very moved, so he was named Cang. It means that a gentleman is better than one person and a villain is better than a gentleman. Later, when God knew this, he sent down millet to reward Cang Xie. This is the origin of Grain Rain Festival on Earth.

Starting from Baishui County, get off the Luohe River along Wei (South) Qing (Jian) Highway, and then transfer to Bai (Shui) Luo (Chuan) Highway. The jeep ran for about an hour between the ditches and forks on the plateau before it came to Shiguan Village, where Cang Xie Temple is located. This Cang Xie Temple, with a history of over 1800 years, has been officially listed as a national key cultural relic protection unit by the State Council.

Cang Xie Ridge is on the west side of wucun, facing the west and east of Cang Xie Temple. This is a big mound five meters high. There are ancient cultural relics from Yangshao to Longshan under the mausoleum. There is a stone lion in Weng Zhong in front of the tomb, and there is a stone square with the word "Cang Xie" written on it. Cang Xie Temple, whose construction date is unknown. According to the existing inscriptions in the temple, "it has not been replaced since the Han and Tang Dynasties". Today's Cang Xie Temple was built in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, covering an area of about 2,700 square meters, with a pair of stone pillars facing south, beautifully carved and elegant; The gate and the second gate are hard mountain buildings, and the worship hall, the main hall and the sleeping pavilion are generous and beautiful. There are inscriptions on the seals of famous people in Ming Dynasty and stone carvings of Cang Xie and his wife. There are many steles in the temple, pines and cypresses, willows and pavilions, and the whole building is magnificent.

Say goodbye to the era of "knotting notes"

There are records in ancient books in China, such as "tying a rope to record" and "writing with a piece of wood", which are commonly used in early records. Unfortunately, these materials could not be preserved for a long time, so the records at that time were unknown. However, in Xiaotun, Anyang, 50,000 pieces of Oracle bone inscriptions150,000 pieces were found, and the words carved on tortoise shell and ox blade were quite well preserved, with a total of 3,500 words. As far as the structure of Oracle characters is concerned, in addition to pictographs, more advanced word-making methods such as pictographs, knowing words and borrowing words have been widely used. It can be seen that the characters of the Shang Dynasty reached a fairly complete level more than 3,000 years ago, so there must be a longer development process before it.

Archaeological findings prove that China's ancestors carved symbols on tortoise shells as early as seven or eight thousand years ago. There are dozens of symbols carved on pottery in Yangshao culture and Dawenkou culture five or six thousand years ago, some of which are similar to the characters seen in Oracle Bone Inscriptions, so some people think they are early characters. As for the bamboo script found on the pottery pots in the early Longshan culture, it can definitely be written, which fully shows that Chinese characters have a history of at least 4,000 years in China. The appearance of Chinese characters is not only the result of people's continuous accumulation and summary in long-term social life, so Cang Xie is probably a representative figure who summarized and sorted out Chinese characters and contributed to the formation of Chinese characters ~